Transport group calls for full utilization of LTO’s LTMS

The Federated Land Transport Organizations of the Philippines (FELTOP) urged the Department of Transportation to implement the full utilization of the Land Transportation Office's Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) as a way to curb questionable vehicle registrations.

In a statement, FELTOP said that the LTO's old system may have facilitated the registration and issuance of license plates to two allegedly illegally imported Bugatti sports cars.

Demalog Joint Venture, the service provider of the LTMS, said that the luxury cars were not registered in its online portal.

FELTOP spokesperson Jun Rustico Braga said LTMS may have enough capacity to detect and block suspicious registrations. “The registration of smuggled vehicles should easily be prevented by now because we now have computerized databases and systems,” he said.

The LTO has been seeking full control of the LTMS online portal from Dermalog, a German biometrics firm. Lawmakers last week said that the government's having full access to the site would allow the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to make adjustments to the system and swiftly respond to the needs of the transacting public without incurring additional costs.

Senator Raffy Tulfo earlier said that the smuggled luxury cars were registered with the LTO using fake documents from the Bureau of Customs.

One of the Bugattis was surrendered by its owner to Customs earlier this month after the bureau offered cash rewards to informants who can help locate the illegally imported luxury cars, estimated to cost around $3 million each.

Last week, the owner of the other Bugatti surrendered it to the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS). — Ted Cordero/BM, GMA Integrated News